Cheney and Edwards take centre stage in debate

8.30am

Cleveland - Vice President Dick Cheney and Senator John Edwards take centre stage in the White House campaign today in a televised debate that gained new significance after a series of polls showed the race tightening.

The running mates for President George W Bush and Democratic rival John Kerry pick up where their bosses left off in last week's debate -- battling over the war in Iraq and US security policy, with the addition of some domestic topics.

Cheney, the administration's most outspoken supporter of the war and harshest critic of the senator from Massachusetts, will try to make the White House's case for the invasion of Iraq and stem the momentum for Kerry since he put Bush on the defensive last week.

Bush campaign strategist Matthew Dowd said Cheney would "explain to the American people why the president's policies are right for this country and the world in fighting the war on terror, in keeping our economy growing and responding to the new challenges in the 21st century."

Edwards, a first-term senator from North Carolina who was chosen for the ticket by Kerry after a strong primary run, will try to put Cheney on the defensive about the administration's policies in Iraq, its record on jobs and health care and its ties to special interests, Kerry aides said.

"We expect John Edwards to hold Dick Cheney and George Bush accountable for their record," Kerry adviser Joe Lockhart said.

Kerry, at a campaign appearance in Iowa, accused Bush of mismanaging the war and applauded former US administrator in Iraq, Paul Bremer, for saying US troops were hampered early in the war by inadequate forces and and a failure to contain looting after the ouster of Saddam Hussein.

"There is a long list of mistakes and I'm glad Paul Bremer has finally acknowledged at least two of them," Kerry said during a stop in Tipton, Iowa.

Cheney's powerful role as an influential adviser in the administration, and a flurry of new polls showing Kerry closing the gap on Bush or pulling even, have added new lustre to the vice presidential debate, traditionally a campaign sideshow.

Cheney is portrayed by critics as the dark architect of the Iraq war. His secretive energy task force, along with his ties to energy giant Halliburton and the oil industry, have made him a lightning rod for Democratic complaints.

Edwards might press Cheney about his role in formulating the administration's energy and Iraq policies, and on Cheney's connections to Halliburton, which he headed from 1995 to 2000 and which now is a leading US military contractor in Iraq.

"I think there is a very powerful argument that Dick Cheney's experience and his judgment and especially the advice he has given the president has not been good for the American people," Kerry adviser Tad Devine said.

Jobs, health care and taxes also will be on the agenda as the debates begin to shift to domestic issues. The presidential debate on Friday between Bush and Kerry will be a town hall format open to all topics, and next week's debate in Arizona will focus on domestic questions.

"The struggles people face and the weakness of our current economy are the direct result of decisions made by George Bush and Dick Cheney, and those decisions are the direct result of a vision that honours wealth and privilege rather than work and responsibility," Edwards said at a morning appearance in the suburbs of Cleveland.

About 62 million people in the United States watched last week's debate, but the audience should be considerably smaller today (Tuesday night US time) with the start of the US baseball playoffs as competition. About 28 million people watched the vice presidential debate in 2000.

The two debaters will display vastly different images and styles. The bald and bespectacled Cheney, 63, is a reluctant campaigner who has had four heart attacks while building a lengthy insider's resume as a member of the US Congress, White House chief of staff and secretary of defence.

The energetic Edwards, 51, is serving his first term in the Senate and was once named People magazine's sexiest politician. He is known for an upbeat campaign style and populist rhetoric. Before entering politics, he was a successful trial lawyer.

- REUTERS